Georgia Protests Enter Third Day

Georgias opposition is threatening civil disobedience and another day of mass rallies demanding President Mikhail Saakashvili’s resignation. But he stands firm, and says he won’t go anywhere before the end of his term (4:09):

A coalition of opposition parties led the demonstration on Saturday in front of parliament in the capital Tbilisi, continuing what they call a “national disobedience campaign”.

However, the number of protesters was down significantly with just 4,000 people gathering compared with 60,000 on Thursday and 25,000 the following day.

Nino Burjanadze, an opposition leader, called on demonstrators to return on Monday for a fresh wave of protests.

“We will stay here until the president resigns,” she said.

Koba Davitashvili, an opposition leader from the People’s Party, said that protesters would not waver.

“There will be no dialogue with Saakashvili. Dialogue is possible on only one issue: his resignation,” Davitashvili said.

Saakashvili has rejected the calls to resign and has offered to hold talks with the opposition.

“There is poverty in the country which has been aggravated by the war and the economic crisis and our citizens are angry today because of these problems. I am angry too,” he said on Friday.

“It is not easy to overcome all of this … It requires unity and dialogue.” >>>

Georgia’s president vows to fight on

Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s president, has said he will not resign despite thousands of protesters in Tbilisi. Al Jazeera’s Matthew Collin reports from Tbilisi (1:29):